Avaya Offers Virtualized UC Solution Aura

Avaya's virtualized unified communications solution, Aura, is aimed at businesses with less than 2,400 employees.

Unified communications company Avaya has released a single-server virtualization UC solution for companies with up to 2,400 employees. Aura, a real-time virtualization technology, enables unmodified versions of Avaya Communication Manager, voice messaging, SIP enablement services, application enablement services, utility services and media services to be deployed on one server.
The company said Aura saves up to 75 percent in hardware, power and cooling, and maintenance requirements and provides a simplified installation and ongoing management with integrated services for administrators. Features include built-in remote monitoring and an optional backup server for redundancy.

The Aura midsize solution for enterprises comes in both Standard and Enterprise Editions. Enterprise Edition includes the Avaya Unified Communications All Inclusive end-user package, a single license that provides access to corporate communications, while companies using Standard Edition can purchase the package for $60 per user. The solution will be available worldwide beginning in November, the company said.

Avaya customers can also add Avaya Contact Center Express (CCE), a multichannel contact center solution providing customer service capabilities using a unified desktop display, advanced multimedia tools and integration to CRM software (including Microsoft Dynamics CRM). The company said CCE will soon be enhanced to let businesses manage the contact center-related data and capabilities of Avaya Aura Communication Manager from within CCE.
Rob Dodson, IT manager of US Helicopter, a subsidiary Bell Helicopter, said that with a two-person IT staff and customers that include civilian and military agencies, simplicity, security and dependability are critical. "We had the Avaya Aura midsize solution for enterprises with telephony, messaging and other applications up and running in a matter of hours-about a tenth of the time it used to take for traditional implementations," he said. "The solution is so easy to use and administer, we won't have to add more IT staff to support a new facility we're building on the other side of town. Users love the messaging and phones, plus if they move to a different building to work on a different project, they just take their phone with them and plug in."
Alan Baratz, Avaya's senior vice president and president of global communications systems, said when the company launched Avaya Aura in May, it "provided a breakthrough solution. With the release of the Avaya Aura midsize solution for enterprises, we provide the same high-performing functionality to even more businesses," he said.

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.